Flashback
by MissMushii
Summary: McCoy watches over Christine Chapel revisting their past as he wait for her to awake.
1. Chapter 1

_His blue eyes scanned the padd in his large, worked hands. He glared frustrated at the device in his grasp. The results on the screen weren't half as helpful as he had prayed for. The light from the bright screen gave his blue eyes an unnatural glow in the darkened sick bay. Before him lay the pale body of his head nurse and secret love lay, covered by a light sheet. Her lips closed heavy over her sea like eyes, her large, bountiful lips parted into a small slit. Her usually straight and tied back hair lay on the pillow, kinked with wet waves of sweat. She was cold to the touch but her temperature was uncontrollably hot._

_He glanced to her, then to the large monitor above her, back to her doll like face. He heaved a sigh. He blamed himself and with good reason. He had sent her on an away mission in his place, purely because he didn't want to spend the time with the hobgoblin that was Commander Spock,, his head nurse could deal with him better then he could. Had he not been so damned selfish he would have gone, knowing that she had been under the weather for the last few days due to her insistence for working over time. He never minded, it gave him more time with her._

_He ran his hand through his hair, releasing another heavy sigh, he needed a strong drink but would be damned if he would have one while his petite colleague ...his friend lay helpless._

_He closed his eyes, rubbing the lids with his thumb and index finger. The image of the soaking wet nurse emerging in sick bay, a large grin upon those beautiful lips. He had expected her to complain about the rain on the planets surface, but as usual she looked on the bright side of it. Damn her for being so intoxicatingly cheery. _

_She had set the sample he had ordered on his desk, her eyes so bright and full of life and spirit._

"_Mind if I have a shower and get changed, Doctor McCoy?"_

_She asked him, knowing full well what his answer would be. He had nodded and watched the fine figure of a woman vanish from sight. He had arranged to meet her for a drink later that evening, and was looking forward to it, imagining what the curvaceous beauty would wear, not that he cared, she looked good in anything. His thought track cut short with the call of Yeoman Rand, he rolled his eyes, assuming it was some petty scratch, only to emerge from his office and be met with a scene of a panicked Rand and an unconscious, towel wrapped Chapel in the arms of the young Ensign Chekov, who's expression would have been amusing if not for the gravity of the situation, his concern was clear, but he looked unsure and slightly blushed as he held the near naked nurse in his arms. As his eye fell upon the limp blonde her felt his heart being ripped out, taking a breath he coolly nodded to one of the med beds, silently ordering the young Russian to set his head nurse upon it. _

"_What happened?"_

_McCoy asked, his tone blunt and hard, he didn't care if it unnerved the young pair before him, all he cared about was knowing what had happened so he could fix it. Biting her lip, Janice Rand piped up the courage to talk, though she seemed wary, as though one wrong word would cause him to rip her head off._

"_Well.. Err ...I went to Chris' quarters to erm … Well help her decide what to wear when she went on her date with you!"_

_She stated nervously, wondering if 'Date' was the right word._

"_And..well…she was collapsed in her shower cubicle."_

_She rushed out, picking up on the impatient expression upon McCoy's face. He nodded, already running a Tricorder over the sleeping beauty, growling lowly as he read the results. Her temperature was raised, she was feverish. His guess… She had contracted some foreign germ on the planet._


	2. Chapter 2

He heaved a sigh, fed up with feeling so useless by his nurse's side. He mauled over his choice to take care of her himself, they were close after all and as one of the other nurses had pointed out, he may make reckless decisions with a clouded and blinkered vision towards Chapel's health. In any other case he would agree, except if it was Jim laying in front of him, but he didn't trust anyone else with the head nurse, _his_ head nurse. He leant over her, brushed a stray lock of platinum hair which had stuck to her moist forehead with his thumb, letting it rest back against the rest of her hair, even with the small scrape above her eyebrow, which was beginning to bruise she looked pretty. In the academy it had been more golden, more natural, he had liked it that way, though he like it as it was now. He chuckled slightly, resting back against the chair again, the thoughts of her first coming into sick bay with 'Barbie Blonde' locks tied in their usual high ponytail. Her explanation when she had seen the expression on his face was; '_It was Janice's idea, so keep it shut McCoy.' _Though she never did anything to change it back, and after a while it seemed to suit her more.

He glanced towards the nurses station, where he had watched Chapel mindlessly, as she worked. He felt a tug at his heart, his eyes just able to see the Chinese nurse, whose name he never cared to remember, sitting where _his _nurse should be seated. He growled silently, looking back towards the blonde before him. He rubbed his eyes again, he hadn't slept in, what, 40 odd hours. He silenced a laugh, imagining what Chapel would say had she been awake. She'd yell at him, tell him to get some rest before she sedated him in a very painful manner. He smiled slightly at the thought her angered face, with her height added to it, she seemed more cute then menacing, but he had learnt the hard way not to take her threats lightly.

His mind wandered, thoughts of their first meeting lay behind his blue eyes. Their first day of medical studies, she had been paired with him by their Vulcan professor, not that he remembered the name of the said Vulcan. He, Leonard, had growled in his usual unpleasant manner as he was approached by the spirited young blonde, who looked a hell of a lot more pleased to be there then he had. He had thought he nothing more then a model wannabe who knew as much about nursing as he did about Kayaking. He was still wounded from his divorce and had no tie for giggling girls who'd squeal at a dissected frog. She hadn't been to impressed by him either, he didn't have to say anything before she laid into him, telling him to get a grip and stop acting like a spoilt 3 year old. That had sure told him. At first he had hated being partnered with such a head strong woman, who was to smart mouthed for her own good. But she had grown on him, and he on her if her attitude toward him was anything to go by. She had been an ice queen towards him ever since he had suggested she couldn't handle the job as well as he, she had persisted then in calling him a dry old man who needed to get his ass out of his damn whiskey bottle. After a few months of their mutually bitter attitude towards each other, they seemed to learn and meld on an unknown level. She had got used to his sour humour and mannerisms and he to her cheery and sweet heart ways.

He recalled their professor referring them to as a _'Fascinating Contradiction_', Bones response had been to mutter bitterly whilst Chapel had chuckled in that sweet way that he was beginning to appreciate. Even after being assigned to the Enterprise she managed to cheer his sour old heart. Just a flash of her bright smile made his job that much more worth it. Watching the dedication in her eyes as she worked, her soft and comforting touch on a patients skin. She certainly kept him from slipping back into his bitter, well, more bitter, ways.


	3. Chapter 3

His eyes darted to the monitor above her bio bed, as though something may had changed in the past five minutes. He sighed again, 'Damn it!' he thought, all he could do was sigh and pray, and he didn't enjoy either. She was stable, she would no doubt make a full recovery, even knowing this he couldn't bring himself to leave her side, she'd be by his if their places had been reversed. He couldn't help but think about how much over time she had pulled when Spock had been injured. He never did understand her attachment to the jerk, though she had said that she was over him, he guessed she wasn't, not completely anyway.

Back in the academy, he had let her 'study' him for some paper she was writing about inter species breeding. Those few months had driven him up the wall, her constant sighing and daydreaming while she was meant to be working with him had got to him bad, though he never called her up on it. He respected her privacy and had better things to do with his time then listen to her rabbit on about some half Vulcan he didn't have the time of day for. He had just got used to her distracted attitude when she did a full 180.

Fresh Monday morning she had come in, merely greeting him with a 'Hello' as appose to her usual 'Sleep well old man?' She had been more focused on her work then ever. No prizes for guessing why, he had thought to himself, he was old enough and experienced enough to guess it had something to do with what was or wasn't said between the two. He didn't push her, in truth he was glad to have the old Chapel back. He had heard rumours, even though he had done his best to ignore them, that Chapel had confessed her love for the Hobgoblin only to be rejected. Even now, he never could grasp why she had been so attracted to the pointed eared jerk.

He chuckled at the thought, most men on campus would kill to date her, he learnt this fact through Jim and his countless attempts to court her, Chapels response to his asking had been, 'I date men, not boys.'

Jim as usual, took the hit but didn't give up. Of course, he later found out through Janice Rand, that Chapel had been engaged before joining Starfleet. That's all he had found out, in truth he cared to much about Chapel to push for any more information. Her fiancé wasn't on Campus and she never wore a ring of any kind, and her pursuit of Spock suggested she wasn't on good terms with said fiancé, and he of all people knew how painful those sort of relationships could be. But he swore to himself that he'd be there should she ever want to talk about it.

As he sat with nothing but his thoughts, he couldn't help but wonder what had happened between Chapel and Dr. Korby. He knew Korby by reputation only. As he watched Chapel stir slightly in her sedated sleep, he couldn't imagine leaving such a charming woman, even if she could be a complete pain in the ass at times.

"Dammit…"

He muttered, he couldn't help but be angered by the thought of her leaving her job with him to be with that trash Korby. In McCoys eyes, he couldn't think of anyone that was good enough for her. He had thought the same about his daughter, he worried what sort of man she would fall for without his protection.

He felt his eyes well with tears at the thought of his beautiful child,

"Damn it Chapel, trust you to be unconscious when I need you.."

He growled softly, taking her hand in his. They were soft, despite their over worked appearance. He ran his thumb over the soft skin of her fingers, begging her to wake up. He missed her, even though she was right in front of him, He missed her smart mouthed remarks, the way she would know what he wanted or needed before he could even ask.


End file.
